1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector lock mechanism which prevents the removal of a partner connector connected to a connector housing of an electric connection box in a double manner.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as a connector lock mechanism for holding a fit state between connectors, there are known various connector lock mechanisms. For example, in Examined Japanese Utility Model Publication Hei. 8-9911, there is disclosed a connector lock mechanism capable of preventing the removal of a partner connector (the other connector), which has been previously invented and applied for a patent by the present applicants. In FIG. 7, there is shown an exploded perspective view of an electric connection box to which the above disclosed connector lock mechanism is applied.
In FIG. 7, on a substrate 101 of an electric connection box 100, there is projectingly provided a rectangular connector housing 102 and, on the wall surface of one of the long sides of the rectangular connector housing 102, there are disposed a pair of guide plates 103 in such a manner as to hang down onto the substrate 101. Also, between the pair of guide plates 103, there is interposed a reinforcing insertion plate 104 in such a manner that it stands erect on the substrate 101. On the inner wall side of each of the guide plates 10, there is formed a groove 105 obtained by cutting away the guide plate inner wall from the top portion thereof to the intermediate portion thereof and, in the bottom portion of the groove 105, there is formed a shaft hole 106 serving as a portion to be pivotally mounted in such a manner that it intersects at right angles to the groove bottom portion. Also, on the two wall surfaces of the short sides of the connector housing 102, there are provided securing projections 107 respectively.
A lock member 110, which is used to secure a partner connector, includes a pair of flexible support pieces 111 which are disposed in such a manner as to hang down from the base portion 119 of the lock member 110, while each of the flexible support pieces 111 includes a cylindrical-shaped projection 112 provided on and projected from the outer wall of the leading end thereof. The tapered surface of the cylindrical-shaped projection 112 is chamfered in order to facilitate the fitting operation of the projection 112 into the axial hole 106 (which will be discussed later). Also, on the upper portion of the base portion 119, there are disposed not only a lock plate 114 for securing the partner connector but also two flexible securing pieces 113 which respectively correspond to the above-mentioned securing projections 107 of the connector housing 102.
Further, on the lock member 110, there is mounted a plate spring 116 which is bent substantially in a J-shaped manner, while the lock member 110 is shown more clearly in FIGS. 8 and 9. The plate spring 116 includes such a securing hole 117 as shown in FIG. 9, while the plate spring 116 is secured by a plate spring securing projection 118 which, as shown in FIG. 8, is provided on the lock member 110.
To assemble the above-structured lock member 110 to the connector housing 102, an inclined recess 115 formed in the base portion 119 may be pressed toward the guide plate 103 side by such a jig rod 120 as shown in FIG. 7. That is, if the inclined recess 115 is pressed in this manner, then the cylindrical-shaped projections 112 respectively provided on the pair of flexible support pieces 111 can be fitted into the shaft holes 106 respectively formed in the pair of guide plates 105. Here, the vertical direction of the inclined recess 115, that is, the axial direction of the jig rod 120 has an inclination of an angle .alpha. with respect to the vertical direction of the lock plate 114. By assembling the lock member 110 to the connector housing 102 in such inclined manner, the flexible securing pieces 113 are prevented from interfering with the securing projections 107 of the connector housing 102 when the lock member 110 is pushed into the connector housing 102.
According to the above-mentioned connector lock mechanism, not only because the lock member 110 is held upwardly of the guide plates 103 but also because the inclined recess 115 of the lock member 110 is pressed by the jig rod 120, the lock member 110 can be assembled easily to the connector housing 102, thereby being able to obtain a high efficiency in the assembling operation.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional connector lock mechanism, when pressing the inclined recess 115 using the jig rod 120 by one hand, the lock member 110 must be held by the other hand to thereby position the lock member 110 at a given position. In this operation, since the plate spring 116 is elastically contacted with the wall surface of the connector housing 102 to thereby energize the lock member 110 in a direction where the lock member 110 is moved apart from the connector housing 102, it is troublesome to hold on the lock member 110 at the given position.